Butterfly tree of life reveals an origin in North America

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

 

IMAGE: USING THE LARGEST BUTTERFLY TREE OF LIFE EVER CREATED, SCIENTISTS HAVE DETERMINED WHERE THE FIRST BUTTERFLIES ORIGINATED AND WHICH PLANTS THEY RELIED ON FOR FOOD. view more 

CREDIT: FLORIDA MUSEUM PHOTO BY KRISTEN GRACE AND PHYLOGENY BY HILLIS, ZWICKL, AND GUTELL

About 100 million years ago, a group of trendsetting moths started flying during the day rather than at night, taking advantage of nectar-rich flowers that had co-evolved with bees. This single event led to the evolution of all butterflies.

Scientists have known the precise timing of this event since 2019, when a large-scale analysis of DNA discounted an earlier hypothesis that pressure from bats prompted the evolution of butterflies after the extinction of dinosaurs.

Now, scientists have discovered where the first butterflies originated and which plants they relied on for food.

Before reaching these conclusions, researchers from dozens of countries had to create the world’s largest butterfly tree of life, assembled with DNA from more than 2,000 species representing all butterfly families and 92% of genera. Using this framework as a guide, they traced the movements and feeding habits of butterflies through time in a four-dimensional puzzle that led back to North and Central America. According to their results, published this Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, this is where the first butterflies took flight.

For lead author Akito Kawahara, curator of lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Natural History, the project was a long time coming.

“This was a childhood dream of mine,” he said. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do since visiting the American Museum of Natural History when I was a kid and seeing a picture of a butterfly phylogeny taped to a curator’s door. It’s also the most difficult study I’ve ever been a part of, and it took a massive effort from people all over the world to complete.”

There are some 19,000 butterfly species, and piecing together the 100 million-year history of the group required information about their modern distributions and host plants. Prior to this study, there was no single place that researchers could go to access that type of data.

“In many cases, the information we needed existed in field guides that hadn’t been digitized and were written in various languages,” Kawahara said.

Undeterred, the authors decided to make their own, publicly available database, painstakingly translating and transferring the contents of books, museum collections and isolated web pages into a single digital repository.

Underlying all these data were 11 rare butterfly fossils, without which the analysis would not have been possible. With paper-thin wings and threadlike, gossamer hairs, butterflies are rarely preserved in the fossil record. The few that are can be used as calibration points on genetic trees, allowing researchers to record timing of key evolutionary events.

The results tell a dynamic story — one rife with rapid diversifications, faltering advances and improbable dispersals. Some groups traveled over impossibly vast distances while others seem to have stayed in one place, remaining stationary while continents, mountains and rivers moved around them.

Butterflies first appeared somewhere in Central and western North America. At the time, North America was bisected by an expansive seaway that split the continent in two, while present-day Mexico was joined in a long arc with the United States, Canada and Russia. North and South America hadn’t yet joined via the Isthmus of Panama, but butterflies had little difficulty crossing the strait between them.

Despite the relatively close proximity of South America to Africa, butterflies took the long way around, moving into Asia across the Bering Land Bridge. From there, they quickly covered ground, radiating into Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. They even made it to India, which was then an isolated island, separated by miles of open sea on all sides.

Even more astonishing was their arrival in Australia, which remained sutured to Antarctica, the last combined remnant of the supercontinent Pangaea. It’s possible butterflies once lived in Antarctica when global temperatures were warmer, making their way across the continent’s northern edge into Australia before the two landmasses separated.

Farther north, butterflies lingered on the edge of western Asia for potentially up to 45 million years before finally migrating into Europe. The reason for this extended pause is unclear, but its effects are still apparent today, Kawahara explained.

“Europe doesn’t have many butterfly species compared to other parts of the world, and the ones it does have can often be found elsewhere. Many butterflies in Europe are also found in Siberia and Asia, for example.”

Once butterflies had become established, they quickly diversified alongside their plant hosts. By the time dinosaurs were snuffed out 66 million years ago, nearly all modern butterfly families had arrived on the scene, and each one seems to have had a special affinity for a specific group of plants.

“We looked at this association over an evolutionary timescale, and in pretty much every family of butterflies, bean plants came out to be the ancestral hosts,” Kawahara said. “This was true in the ancestor of all butterflies as well.”

Bean plants have since increased their roster of pollinators to include various bees, flies, hummingbirds and mammals, while butterflies have similarly expanded their palate. According to study co-author Pamela Soltis, a Florida Museum curator and distinguished professor, the botanical partnerships that butterflies forged helped transform them from minor offshoot of moths to what is today one of the world’s largest groups of insects.

“The evolution of butterflies and flowering plants has been inexorably intertwined since the origin of the former, and the close relationship between them has resulted in remarkable diversification events in both lineages,” she said.

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JOURNAL

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-023-02041-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-May-2023

Coastal lights trick coral reefs into spawning earlier than they should

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

 

IMAGE: CORAL REEFS IN THE RED SEA - SUCH AS THIS ONE IN THE GULF OF EILAT/AQABA - AND PERSIAN GULF ARE PARTICULARLY AFFECTED BY LIGHT POLLUTION view more 

CREDIT: SAHCHAF BEN EZRA

The light pollution caused by coastal cities can trick coral reefs into spawning outside of the optimum times when they would normally reproduce, a new study has found.

Coral broadcast spawning events – in which lunar cycles trigger the release of eggs on certain nights of the year – are critical to the maintenance and recovery of reefs following mass bleaching and other similar events.

However, using a combination of light pollution data and spawning observations, researchers were able to show for the first time that corals exposed to artificial light at night (ALAN) are spawning one to three days closer to the full moon compared to those on unlit reefs.

Spawning on different nights could reduce the likelihood of coral eggs being fertilised and surviving to produce new adult corals that help reefs to recover after bleaching events and other disturbances.

The research, published in Nature Communications, is the latest to be carried out as part of the Artificial Light Impacts on Coastal Ecosystems (ALICE) project, which is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

It builds on research published in December 2021 which mapped out the areas of the ocean most affected by light pollution.

That study found that at a depth of one metre, 1.9 million sq km of coastal ocean are exposed to biologically important ALAN (around 3.1% of the global Exclusive Economic Zones).

For the new study, researchers paired that data with a global dataset of 2,135 coral spawning observations from the 21st century.

This enabled them to demonstrate that ALAN is possibly advancing the triggers for spawning by creating a perceived period of minimum illuminance between sunset and moonrise on nights following the full moon.

Dr Thomas Davies, Lecturer in Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth, is the study’s lead author and also principal investigator of the ALICE project. He said: “Corals are critical for the health of the global ocean, but are being increasingly damaged by human activity. This study shows it is not just changes in the ocean that are impacting them, but the continued development of coastal cities as we try and accommodate the growing global population. If we want to mitigate against the harm this is causing, we could perhaps look to delay the switching on of night-time lighting in coastal regions to ensure the natural dark period between sunset and moonrise that triggers spawning remains in tact. That would potentially raise a number of economic and safety issues, but is something we potentially need to consider to ensure our coral reefs are given the best chance of survival.”

Dr Tim Smyth, Head of Science for Marine Biogeochemistry and Observations at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the study’s senior author, added: “This study further emphasises the importance of artificial light pollution as a stressor of coastal and marine ecosystems, with the impacts on various aspects of biodiversity only now being discovered and quantified. A critical first step along that path was enabled with our global in-water light pollution atlas which highlighted for the first time the true extent of the problem, which hitherto had gone unrecognised.”

The study looked at coastal regions all over the world, but coral reefs in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf are particularly affected by light pollution.

They are areas where coastlines have been heavily developed in recent years and where coral reefs are both close to the shore and at particular risk.

Co-author Professor Oren Levy, who heads the Laboratory for Molecular Marine Ecology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, added: “The Red Sea and the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba are heavily impacted by Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) due to urbanization and the proximity of the reefs to the coastline. Despite the challenges posed by ALAN, corals in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba are known for their thermal tolerance and ability to withstand high temperatures. However, a disturbance in the timing of coral spawning with the moon phases can result in a decline in new coral recruits and a reduction in the coral population. It is crucial that we take immediate action to reduce the impact of ALAN on these fragile marine ecosystems. By implementing measures to limit light pollution, we can protect these vital habitats and safeguard the future of the world's oceans. It's our responsibility to ensure that we preserve the biodiversity of our planet and maintain a healthy and sustainable environment for generations to come.”

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-38070-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Global disruption of coral broadcast spawning associated with artificial light at night

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-May-2023

Numerical experiments reveal initial wind field structure as crucial factor in determining tropical cyclone size and intensity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: TROPICAL CYCLONES OLAF (TOP) AND NANCY (BOTTOM) ON FEBRUARY 16, 2005 OVER SOUTH PACIFIC. view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY THE MODIS RAPID RESPONSE TEAM, NASA-GSFC

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are responsible for significant damage to property and human life. The size and intensity of these storms are critical factors in determining the level of destruction they can cause. However, the relationship between a TC's size and intensity during its development phase has been difficult to understand.

Now, a team of researchers led by Professor CHEN Guanghua at the Key Laboratory of Cloud-Precipitation Physics and Severe Storms of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has shed light on this relationship by examining the wind field structure of TCs during their formation.

In a paper published in Advances in Atmospheric Science, the researchers analyzed the relative impacts of two critical parameters - the radius of maximum wind (RMW) and the radial decay of winds outside the RMW - on the degree of size expansion under the same level of intensity increment. 

They found that vortexes with larger RMW and broader wind fields tend to expand more under the same level of intensity increment, highlighting the importance of paying attention to incipient storms with large RMW.

The researchers also discovered that the RMW plays a major role in the size-intensity relationship. Increasing the initial RMW significantly slows down the organization and development of the eyewall convection, leading to slow intensifying. On the other hand, initially broader winds allow for active outer convection and are favorable for size expansion, which can lower wind transports to the inner region and impede intensification when the RMW is large.

"This study is a preliminary attempt to comprehend the physical mechanisms responsible for the variation of size-intensity relationship," said Prof. Chen. "Further research is ongoing to incorporate more complex internal and external forces."

Understanding the size and intensity relationship of TCs is crucial for estimating their potential destruction to humanity. The findings of this study can help improve our ability to predict and prepare for these devastating natural disasters.

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JOURNAL

Advances in Atmospheric Sciences

DOI

10.1007/s00376-023-2233-4 

ARTICLE TITLE

Modulation of the wind field structure of initial vortex on the relationship between tropical cyclone size and intensity

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-May-2023

Monkeypox viruses relatively stable on surfaces

Virology

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUHR-UNIVERSITY BOCHUM

 

IMAGE: CLEANING SURFACES WITH ALCOHOL-BASED DISINFECTANT IS GOOD PROTECTION AGAINST INFECTION. view more 

CREDIT: © RUB, MARQUARD

Weeks of monitoring

Since 2022, the monkeypox virus has been transmitted more and more frequently from one human host to another. Although infections primarily result from direct physical contact, it’s also possible to contract the virus through contaminated surfaces, for example in the household or in hospital rooms. “Smallpox viruses are notorious for their ability to remain infectious in the environment for a very long time,” explains Dr. Toni Meister from the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr University Bochum. “For monkeypox, however, we didn’t know the exact time frames until now.”

The researchers therefore studied them by applying the virus to sanitised stainless steel plates and storing them at different temperatures: at four degrees, at 22 degrees, which roughly corresponds to room temperature, and at 37 degrees. They determined the amount of infectious virus after different periods of time, ranging from 15 minutes to several days to weeks.

Viruses remain infectious for a long time

Regardless of the temperature, there was little change in the amount of infectious virus during the first few days. At 22 and 37 degrees, the virus concentration dropped significantly only after five days. At 37 degrees, no virus capable of reproducing was detected after six to seven days, at 22 degrees it took ten to eleven days until infection was no longer possible. At four degrees, the amount of virus only dropped sharply after 20 days, and after 30 days there was no longer any danger of infection. “This is consistent with our experience that people can still contract monkeypox from surfaces in the household after almost two weeks,” points out Professor Eike Steinmann, Head of the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology.

In order to reduce the risk of infection in the event of an outbreak, it is therefore extremely important to disinfect surfaces. This is why the researchers tested the effectiveness of five common disinfectants. They found that alcohol-based or aldehyde-based disinfectants reliably reduced the risk of infection. A hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant, however, didn’t inactivate the virus effectively enough in the study. “Our results support the WHO’s recommendation to use alcohol-based surface disinfectants,” concludes Toni Meister.

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JOURNAL

The Journal of Infectious Diseases

DOI

10.1093/infdis/jiad127 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Stability and inactivation of monkeypox virus on inanimate surfaces

Comprehensive analysis of single plant cells provides new insights into natural product biosynthesis

Single-cell multi-omics reveals that cell types are differentially involved in the production and accumulation of medically relevant plant compounds

MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR CHEMICAL ECOLOGY

 

IMAGE: THE MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE (CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS) OF THE DOGBANE FAMILY PRODUCES A NUMBER OF ALKALOIDS OF MEDICINAL INTEREST. ANALYSES AT THE LEVEL OF DIFFERENT CELL TYPES ENABLED THE DISCOVERY OF STILL MISSING GENES FOR THE BIOSYNTHESIS OF THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT NATURAL PRODUCTS FROM THE PLANT, VINCRISTINE AND VINBLASTINE (SKELETAL FORMULA), WHICH ARE USED AS CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENTS IN THE TREATMENT AGAINST CANCER. view more 

CREDIT: ANGELA OVERMEYER, MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR CHEMICAL ECOLOGY

Plants are impressive in their diversity, but especially in the variety of metabolites they produce. Many plant natural products are highly complex molecules, such as the alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine, which are produced by the Madagascar periwinkle Catharanthus roseus. These two substances are already indispensable in cancer therapy.

Researchers are very interested in finding out which individual biosynthetic steps are required to form the complex molecules. "Currently, these compounds are still obtained in very small quantities from the plant's leaf extract. We can learn from the plant how this compound is produced and use this knowledge to develop production systems that are more cost-effective, scalable and sustainable," said first author Chenxin Li of the University of Georgia's Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, describing the research goal.

 

Assigning genetic and metabolic information to individual cells of plant organs

The scientists know that gene activity is not the same in all cells of a plant and that the chemistry can differ drastically from cell to cell. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to use a new set of methods collectively termed single-cell omics to investigate specialized and rare cell types that play a central role in the biosynthesis of plant natural products, and whose signals are often obscured by more abundant cell types in plant organs.  "With single-cell omics, we have a method that allows researchers to assign genetic and metabolic information to individual cells. The term omics refers to the fact that an entire collection of genes or metabolites is quantified and analyzed," says Lorenzo Caputi, head of the Alkaloid Biosynthesis Project Group in the Department of Natural Product Biosynthesis in Jena and one of the lead authors, explaining the methodological approach.

 

Biosynthetic pathway of vinblastine - organized in three distinct cell types

As the analyses showed, the entire biosynthetic pathway for the alkaloid vinblastine is organized in three stages and three discrete cell types. "The first stage is expressed exclusively in specialized cells associated with vascular bundles in the leaf, called IPAP.  The second stage of the biosynthetic pathway is expressed only in cells of the epidermis, the layer of cells that cover the leaves, and the last known steps of the biosynthetic pathway are expressed exclusively in idioblasts, a rare cell type of the leaf," Chenxin Li summarizes the results.

The researchers measured the concentrations of several intermediates in the metabolic pathway for vinblastine in single cells and were surprised: "Two important precursors of vinblastine, catharanthine and vindoline, occur in the idioblast cells at millimolar concentrations, about three orders of magnitude higher than vinblastine itself. The concentration of the two precursors in these cells was much higher than we expected and even exceeded their concentrations in whole organ extracts. However, this observation makes sense in that catharanthine and vindoline were found only in the rare idioblast cells. The abundant other cells in the leaf dilute the high concentration when whole leaves are crushed," says Sarah O’Connor, head of the Department of Natural Product Biosynthesis.

The research team is confident that the organization of biosynthetic pathways for medicinally relevant alkaloids in Catharanthus roseus is not an isolated phenomenon. "We are just beginning to understand how and why such a cell type-specific organization exists. In addition, analysis of genes expressed simultaneously in a particular cell type has helped us identify new players in this metabolic pathway. The same technique can be used to study the biosynthesis of many other natural products. Finally, the exact sites of accumulation of plant compounds, such as the epidermis, the vascular system, or latex duct, can help us hypothesize the ecological roles of natural products. For example, depending on the pattern of accumulation, the compounds may be more effective against biting insects than they are against sap-sucking insects," says Robin Buell, Professor at Georgia University.

A better understanding of the biosynthetic pathways of the anti-cancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine may also help to produce or harvest these compounds more effectively in the long term. The use of methods described is also promising for the study of many other interesting and medically important natural products from the plant kingdom. The approach described here will help to narrow down these rare and specialized cells and uncover the gene activities and chemistry that are exclusive to them.

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JOURNAL

Nature Chemical Biology

DOI

10.1038/s41589-023-01327-0 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Single-cell multi-omics in the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-May-2023

Astronomers observe the first radiation belt seen outside of our solar system

High-resolution imaging of radio emissions from an ultracool dwarf show a double-lobed structure like the radiation belts of Jupiter

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA CRUZ

 

IMAGE: ARTIST’S IMPRESSION OF AN AURORA AND THE SURROUNDING RADIATION BELT OF THE ULTRACOOL DWARF LSR J1835+3259. view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE CREDIT: CHUCK CARTER, MELODIE KAO, HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION

Astronomers have described the first radiation belt observed outside our solar system, using a coordinated array of 39 radio dishes from Hawaii to Germany to obtain high-resolution images. The images of persistent, intense radio emissions from an ultracool dwarf reveal the presence of a cloud of high-energy electrons trapped in the object’s powerful magnetic field, forming a double-lobed structure analogous to radio images of Jupiter’s radiation belts.

“We are actually imaging the magnetosphere of our target by observing the radio-emitting plasma—its radiation belt—in the magnetosphere. That has never been done before for something the size of a gas giant planet outside of our solar system,” said Melodie Kao, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz and first author of a paper on the new findings published May 15 in Nature.

Strong magnetic fields form a “magnetic bubble” around a planet called a magnetosphere, which can trap and accelerate particles to near the speed of light. All the planets in our solar system that have such magnetic fields, including Earth, as well as Jupiter and the other giant planets, have radiation belts consisting of these high-energy charged particles trapped by the planet’s magnetic field.

Earth’s radiation belts, known as the Van Allen belts, are large donut-shaped zones of high-energy particles captured from solar winds by the magnetic field. Most of the particles in Jupiter’s belts are from volcanoes on its moon Io. If you could put them side by side, the radiation belt that Kao and her team have imaged would be 10 million times brighter than Jupiter’s.

Particles deflected by the magnetic field toward the poles generate auroras (“northern lights”) when they interact with the atmosphere, and Kao’s team also obtained the first image capable of differentiating between the location of an object’s aurora and its radiation belts outside our solar system.

The ultracool dwarf imaged in this study straddles the boundary between low-mass stars and massive brown dwarfs. “While the formation of stars and planets can be different, the physics inside of them can be very similar in that mushy part of the mass continuum connecting low-mass stars to brown dwarfs and gas giant planets,” Kao explained.

Characterizing the strength and shape of the magnetic fields of this class of objects is largely uncharted terrain, she said. Using their theoretical understanding of these systems and numerical models, planetary scientists can predict the strength and shape of a planet’s magnetic field, but they haven’t had a good way to easily test those predictions.

“Auroras can be used to measure the strength of the magnetic field, but not the shape. We designed this experiment to showcase a method for assessing the shapes of magnetic fields on brown dwarfs and eventually exoplanets,” Kao said.

The strength and shape of the magnetic field can be an important factor in determining a planet’s habitability. “When we’re thinking about the habitability of exoplanets, the role of their magnetic fields in maintaining a stable environment is something to consider in addition to things like the atmosphere and climate,” Kao said.

To generate a magnetic field, a planet’s interior must be hot enough to have electrically conducting fluids, which in the case of Earth is the molten iron in its core. In Jupiter, the conducting fluid is hydrogen under so much pressure it becomes metallic. Metallic hydrogen probably also generates magnetic fields in brown dwarfs, Kao said, while in the interiors of stars the conducting fluid is ionized hydrogen.

The ultracool dwarf known as LSR J1835+3259 was the only object Kao felt confident would yield the high-quality data needed to resolve its radiation belts.

“Now that we’ve established that this particular kind of steady-state, low-level radio emission traces radiation belts in the large-scale magnetic fields of these objects, when we see that kind of emission from brown dwarfs—and eventually from gas giant exoplanets—we can more confidently say they probably have a big magnetic field, even if our telescope isn’t big enough to see the shape of it,” Kao said, adding that she is looking forward to when the Next Generation Very Large Array, currently being planned by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), can image many more extrasolar radiation belts.

“This is a critical first step in finding many more such objects and honing our skills to search for smaller and smaller magnetospheres, eventually enabling us to study those of potentially habitable, Earth-size planets,” said coauthor Evgenya Shkolnik at Arizona State University, who has been studying the magnetic fields and habitability of planets for many years.

The team used the High Sensitivity Array, consisting of 39 radio dishes coordinated by the NRAO in the United States and the Effelsberg radio telescope operated by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany.

“By combining radio dishes from across the world, we can make incredibly high-resolution images to see things no one has ever seen before. Our image is comparable to reading the top row of an eye chart in California while standing in Washington, D.C.,” said coauthor Jackie Villadsen at Bucknell University.

Kao emphasized that this discovery was a true team effort, relying heavily on the observational expertise of co-first author Amy Mioduszewski at NRAO in planning the study and analyzing the data, as well as the multiwavelength stellar flare expertise of Villadsen and Shkolnik. This work was supported by NASA and the Heising-Simons Foundation.

The first images of an extrasolar radiation belt were obtained by combining 39 radio telescopes to form a virtual telescope spanning the globe from Hawaii to Germany.

The electron radiation belt and aurora of an ultracool dwarf were imaged by combining 39 radio telescopes to form a virtual telescope spanning the globe from Hawaii to Germany.

CREDIT

Image credit: Melodie Kao, Amy Mioduszewsk

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06138-w 

ARTICLE TITLE

Resolved imaging confirms a radiation belt around an ultracool dwarf

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-May-2023

Latest research provides SwRI scientists close-up views of energetic particle jets ejected from the Sun

New study observes unusual isotope variations in solar particle injections

Business Announcement

SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (SWRI) SCIENTISTS OBSERVED THE FIRST CLOSE-UP VIEWS OF THE SOURCE OF JETS OF ENERGETIC PARTICLES EXPELLED FROM THE SUN. THE HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF THE SOLAR EVENT WERE PROVIDED BY ESA AND NASA’S SOLAR ORBITER, A SUN-OBSERVING SATELLITE LAUNCHED IN 2020. view more 

CREDIT: SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

SAN ANTONIO — May 15, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists observed the first close-ups of a source of energetic particles expelled from the Sun, viewing them from just half an astronomical unit (AU), or about 46.5 million miles. The high-resolution images of the solar event were provided by ESA’s Solar Orbiter, a Sun-observing satellite launched in 2020.

“In 2022, the Solar Orbiter detected six recurrent energetic ion injections. Particles emanated along the jets, a signature of magnetic reconnection involving field lines open to interplanetary space,” said SwRI’s Dr. Radoslav Bucik, the lead author of a new study published this month in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. “The Solar Orbiter frequently detects this type of activity, but this period showed very unusual elemental compositions.”

In one ion injection, the intensity of the rare isotope Helium-3 exceeded the amount of hydrogen, the most abundant element on the Sun, and the levels of iron were similar to the isotope Helium-4, the second most abundant element on the Sun. In another injection two days later, the amount of Helium-3 had significantly decreased to an almost negligible amount.

“Our analysis shows that the elemental and spectral variations in recurrent injections are associated with the shape of the jet, the size of the jet source and the distribution of the underlying photospheric field that evolved over time,” Bucik said. “We believe that understanding the variability in recurrent events from a single source sheds light on the acceleration mechanism in solar flares.”

The observations made by Solar Orbiter are unique as the propagation effects that can affect abundances could be minimal near the Sun. The distance of just 0.5 AU has given the scientific team a remarkably detailed view of solar events.

“When we are closer, we have a considerably better spatial resolution,” Bucik said. “We are able to gain more insight into the source of these energetic particles because we can see the internal structure associated with acceleration processes as the injection evolves. Observations from twice that distance, 1 AU, are not very clear in comparison.”

Bucik and his colleagues hope to learn even more from the Solar Orbiter’s closest approaches to the Sun at 0.3 AU.

“These observations could help predict future solar energetic particle events,” Bucik said. “These particles can damage satellites and equipment and potentially harm astronauts. We want to understand how they accelerate away from the Sun and what the conditions are for their acceleration.”

The paper “Recurrent 3He-rich solar energetic particle injections observed by Solar Orbiter at ~0.5 au,” appears in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Letters to the Editor): https://www.aanda.org/component/article?access=doi&doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202345875

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/heliophysics.

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DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202345875 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

New deal inked to space test meta-optical surfaces

European Space Agency funds project

Business Announcement

ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR TRANSFORMATIVE META-OPTICAL SYSTEMS

 

IMAGE: TMOS CENTRE DIRECTOR DRAGOMIR NESHEV AND LABORAXPERT CEO VESSELIN VASSILEV SIGN A NEW DEAL TO SPACE-TEST METASURFACES IN A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND STUDY. view more 

CREDIT: SAMARA THORN

A new engineering study has been commissioned by the European Space Agency (under PECS, the Program for European Cooperating States), to prove the reliability of meta-optical elements for space use in a collaboration between the ESA, Bulgarian start-up company LaboraXpert and TMOS, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems.

In the first study of its kind, it will determine whether meta-optical components can withstand the pressures of space launch and prolonged exposure to the space environment.

TMOS Centre Director Prof. Dragomir Neshev says, “The demand for Earth observation data is growing, yet the industry still faces the challenge of size and weight constraints when sending a payload into space. Meta-optics will allow for the simultaneous advancement of the functionality and miniaturization of remote sensing systems. This study will provide information towards the development of robust space applications using meta-material optical elements.”

LaboraXpert’s CEO, Dr. Vesselin Vassilev, says, “Space is a booming industry that relies on developing advanced technologies and solutions in various domains.  It offers a great opportunity to demonstrate the performance of the advanced imaging systems our company is developing. TMOS’s research goals align closely with our company’s determination to provide ground breaking multi-spectral sensors for space and other applications. We hope this is the first step of a longer term applied R&D collaboration.”

Prof. Neshev says, “We believe meta-optics will enable a new set of innovative applications because of its ability to miniaturise complex optical devices and provide additional embedded functionality of optical systems. Meta-optics significantly outperforms bulky traditional optics in its low size, weight and power requirements, which will have a great benefit for the space industry. Space environment applications are tough ones to succeed in. This project with LaboraXpert and ESA is an indication of the quality cutting-edge technology TMOS is pioneering.”

Both Prof.Neshev and Dr. Vassilev hope this project foreshadows a deepening of advanced industry and research collaboration between Europe and Australia.

For more information about this project, please contact connect@tmos.org.au

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METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article